Escalation
by You'llRememberMe
Summary: "Rosalee caught her husband's hand and gave it a quick, reassuring squeeze. She didn't know what they were about to stumble into, but she was certainly going to hope for the best. Monroe turned to her with a smile that looked more like a grimace on his face. Then they went in. What they found turned out to be worse than they could ever have imagined." Takes place before 4x16. Dark


**_Here it is! My second attempt at a Grimm fic :)_**

**_I gotta say, I never intended to write something like this. It goes into territory that I would usually never venture into. Still, the muse demanded that it be written._**

**_Please note that I haven't watched any recent episodes after 4x15 "Double Date." I still need to catch up and would really love if you guys didn't leave spoilers in your reviews or messages, if you choose to write any (I'm hoping you decide to leave me some)_**

**_Enjoy!_**

**_OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO_**

"Hey, honey," Rosalee smiled up at her husband from her place on the sofa. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm heading to Nick's," Monroe responded, bending down to place a chaste kiss on her forehead. "You know… help him move out and all."

Rosalee's smile faded, leaving her with a slight frown on her face. It had been three years since Juliette and Nick had split up; a consequence of Juliette's new status as a powerful Hexenbiest. They'd tried to make it work for a while, but Juliette had become frustrated and angry when Nick wouldn't leave it alone. He'd gone to great lengths to try and "cure" her. Eventually, when the effort began to prove futile and Juliette started to accept her new lot in life, the two had reached an impasse. Juliette, starting to see the opportunities in front of her, had started to take offense to Nick's tireless efforts to return them to their previous semblance of a normal life. She was a Hexenbiest now, and the more Nick tried to change that the angrier she got.

Monroe and Rosalee knew the breakup had hurt both of their friends. Neither had ever imagined splitting up, at least before Adalind screwed up their life together. They'd been through so much. All the Wesen cases and zombie invasions hadn't torn them apart, but this one thing had ripped their world in half.

It wasn't just the two of them that were hurting either, even after three years. Monroe and Rosalee had been forced to see their two friends on a shared custody basis, if you could share custody of two fully grown adults. Nick and Juliette couldn't bear to be in the same room together, much less hang out like they used to with Monroe and Rosalee. On the few occasions the two had been seen together since their split, they'd been civil, but frigid. They wouldn't risk warming up to each other for fear of restarting the whole disastrous cycle of their relationship.

And now, it seemed as if Nick had well and truly had enough. He couldn't stand living in their old house alone anymore. A few months prior he had decided to put it on the market. Juliette had already vacated the premises weeks after their breakup, but he had held on to hopes that he didn't dare voice. Finally though, Nick had apparently come to the conclusion that he could no longer live in a house that held so many bittersweet memories. Rosalee knew what he was thinking; it was time to move on.

Rosalee sighed, closing the book she had been reading. "Well, if you two need any help, just let me know."

"Will do," Monroe said as he headed out the door, only to be stopped by the ringing of his cell phone.

Checking the caller ID, Monroe quickly accepted the call, "Hey, Nick, I was just-"

Rosalee's keen Fuchsbau ears allowed her to hear what was being said on the other side. Unfortunately, there was so much noise on what she presumed to be Nick's end that it was impossible to make out complete sentences, if there were any. With that said, Rosalee was pretty sure that the first voice she heard wasn't even Nick's. It was Juliette's.

_"__Nick! Please, I-"_

The voice that may or may not have been Juliette's cried out with a tinge of desperation before being cut off by a loud crash in the background, Rosalee likened the sound to dozens of pots and pans falling over. Both Monroe and Rosalee stood up, alert and alarmed. The husband and wife exchanged a worried glance.

"Uh, Nick? What's going on?" Monroe tried.

_"__You don't-" _Juliette's voice attempted again, loud and high pitched in clear distress.

"Nick!" Monroe yelled into the phone. "Juliette!" Then the two heard the unmistakable sounds of fighting, having been in their fair share of scuffles themselves. That was when Rosalee made a quick decision. She grabbed Monroe's arm and hauled both of them out of the door and into the car. Something was wrong at Nick's house, he wasn't responding, and Juliette seemed to be there and in need of help. Something had to be done and fast.

They drove quickly, speeding through stop signs along the way. All the while they listened to what was a rapidly escalating fight between two unknown parties. Well, that wasn't entirely true. They were pretty sure Juliette was on one end of the fight, but they had no idea where Nick was.

They reached the house in record time, having long since disregarded most of what was happening on the other end of the phone call. They hadn't heard any voices in a while, and no one responded to their pleas for answers. It was much more important that they be there in person to find out what was going on. Still, that didn't mean that, as Monroe pulled up to the curb beside Nick's home, they didn't notice the sudden and terrifying lack of noise from the ongoing call. Monroe and Rosalee exchanged a panicked look before vaulting out of the car and running to the front door. Not bothering to knock, the two forced their way through the door and into the house.

Nick's living room, and the rest of the house from what they could see, was in shambles. Furniture was overturned and destroyed, the walls bore large, gaping holes, and the banister on the stairs had been ripped off completely. What was worse was the blood spattered over it all. The smell alone had the two of the Woging instantly, but the sight of the material carnage sent them into overdrive.

Monroe and Rosalee carefully and quietly picked their way through the living room. Reaffirming their grip on their human selves, they prepared to enter the kitchen. They couldn't see into the room, but they could hear muffled noises coming from it. They hesitated rounding the corner, for whatever was inside that room could change everything.

Rosalee caught her husband's hand and gave it a quick, reassuring squeeze. She didn't know what they were about to stumble into, but she was certainly going to hope for the best. Monroe turned to her with a smile that looked more like a grimace on his face. Then they went in.

What they found turned out to be worse than they could ever have imagined.

The first thing they saw was the blood pooled on the kitchen floor. The spatters in the living room were nothing compared to this. Rosalee clapped a hand over her mouth in horror, stifling the gasp that threatened to break the silence.

Fully entering the room, Rosalee and Monroe saw a hunched figure kneeling on the floor, jeans soaked with blood. There was no mistaking that dark head of hair, the slumped figure was clearly Nick. And he was hunched over another body, the source of all that red, a bloodied machete at his side.

"Nick?" Monroe asked quietly, hesitantly. He reached out a hand as if to touch him, but stopped when Nick looked back at them over his shoulder, not moving from his position on the floor.

His eyes were red-rimmed and tear tracks glistened on his face. Beyond that Monroe and Rosalee saw a blossoming bruise on his jaw amongst multiple cuts and scratches. They couldn't see the front of his clothes but imagined that he bore the signs of a struggle, much like his face.

Nick took a deep, shuddering breath, "I'm so sorry." Grief, shame, and anger colored his soft voice. He hung his head, shoulders shaking with repressed sobs.

Rosalee and Monroe didn't know what to do, they'd never seen their friend in such a state. They didn't understand the situation either. At least, they didn't until Rosalee thought it would be pertinent to see who the other body on the floor was. As she peered around Nick, she prayed she wouldn't find what she was beginning to suspect and fear she would see.

"Oh, my God," she whispered, finally getting a good look at the other person. As soon as she did, she fervently wished she hadn't.

"So sorry," Nick muttered, curling in on himself further.

Monroe was in a definite state of panic at this point, unsure of what was going on.

"What? Who is it?" He craned his neck to see, and found that it didn't matter. He couldn't tell who the person was, even if he had been able to see them right away.

The victim didn't have a head.

"Christ!" Monroe exclaimed. "What the hell happened!?" He was staring at the body on the floor. He didn't know what to make of it. He was trying to fit the pieces of this insane puzzle together, but he didn't have all them.

"No, Monroe," Rosalee said, her voice trembling. "_Look."_

She pointed toward the opposite side of the room, by the other doorway. Monroe followed her shaking finger, and his eyes finally found the missing piece.

He gaped like a fish for what felt like a full minute, rapidly glancing between Nick and the terribly familiar head his wife had just pointed out to him. His knees felt weak and it felt like the world was spinning. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

All of the clues, the pieces of the puzzle, were finally coming together. The odd phone call, the destruction of the house, Nick's strange behavior and the headless body on the floor. Nick and Juliette had finally been in the same room together, and it hadn't been pretty.

Still staring in horror at the disembodied head, Rosalee began to cry. Monroe saw this, but he couldn't move a muscle, couldn't comfort her. He was frozen in shock, trying to comprehend the scene before him.

"She wasn't the same," Nick whispered. "She wasn't Juliette."

**_OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO_**

**_So, yeah... That went... to a darker place than usual..._**

**_Anyway, I really hope you liked it! Please leave a review with your thoughts or questions! I would love to hear from you guys :)_**


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